Lucky Sevens
by HarlequinRaven
Summary: She would call it an improbable occurrence. He would call it the will of the dice. Either way, an unexpected meeting between two old friends carves a new path for them both. Rebecca/Otogi.


**Lucky Sevens**

**Summary: **She would call it an improbable occurrence. He would call it the will of the dice. Either way, an unexpected meeting between two old friends carves a new path for them both. Rebecca/Otogi.**  
**

**Note**: Duke Devlin/Ryuuji Otogi does actually call Rebecca 'Bec' and/or 'Becky' at least once, in both the Japanese and English versions. So, I'm not just randomly giving her nicknames – because I know I hate it when other people do that. (I swear, I read a fic where Yugi called Yami 'Yam-Yam' once. It gave me nightmares.) Oh, and in the Japanese, Rebecca refers to Yugi as her 'darling' a _lot. _So I didn't make that up, either.

Oh, and this IS just a oneshot. Complete, and everything. :)

* * *

Rebecca glanced at her reflection in the mirror, sweeping her hair behind her ears in one swift movement. She sighed, and caught sight of the necklace she had randomly picked out of her collection that morning. She fumbled with the small, silver dice, showing a five and a two, hanging from the pendant that had been a gift from her aunt, and inadvertently, her thoughts of dice led her into the past. She smiled as she remembered those friends from long ago, and in particular the dice reminded her of Otogi.

After they had duelled together against Valon, Rebecca had always admired the Dungeon Dice master. He had fallen with grace, and it had impressed her considerably. He always seemed incredibly tall in her memories, but, she supposed, she was much younger then. Years had passed since Rebecca had seen Otogi, or any of them, really. She had gone away to study at university, and hadn't had much contact with any of them since then. She spoke to Anzu on occasion, but phone calls were a rarity. Rebecca sighed. It wasn't often she mused about Yugi and his friends, but when she did, it always left her with a feeling of faint sadness and regret that she had not kept more in touch. Before she left her apartment, Rebecca kept to her habit of crossing off the date, the seventh of June.

Rebecca stepped outside into the crisp Japanese air, and locked her front door with a succinct click, before placing the key in her pocket and heading down the street. A walk would surely clear her mind.

~O~

Just before he left his graciously-proportioned apartment, Otogi looked into the small bathroom mirror, carefully drawing the line of kohl from the bottom of his right eye to the middle of his cheek. He thought it made him look dashing; almost dangerous. The girls seemed to like that, and Otogi liked the girls, so it all made sense to him.

He slipped on his red waistcoat, and carefully buckled the black leather shoes he had picked up in America two weeks ago. He had been over there promoting his company; the life of a CEO's son was a busy one. The gaming business had really picked up for their company, especially with all the promotion the reigning King of Games, Yugi Motou, had done for them a few years ago – Kaiba hadn't been incredibly happy about that. KaibaCorp was now their main rival. Otogi smirked as finally he slipped his dice earring into place, halfway between the six and the one. It had been worth all the hard work just to see Kaiba's face. _Priceless_.

Otogi left his apartment, heading out across town towards one of his gaming shops; his first, and therefore his gaming baby.

~O~

As Rebecca crossed the road, she noticed a tall figure passing by her right side. It was the bright red waistcoat she remembered first. The figure noticed her, and his eyes widened in obvious surprise. Once they had both crossed, he turned to face her.

"Hey, Rebecca," Otogi said, smiling in greeting. His voice was deeper than she remembered. Or maybe it hadn't changed, but her childish perceptions had shifted. Come to think of it, at the time they had all been preoccupied with rescuing Yugi's soul from Dartz. She wouldn't have noticed such a trivial, mundane thing as the depth of another man's voice.

Rebecca felt a light blush sprinkle her cheeks as the realisation of what she had just thought hit her. Otogi was a _man_. When she'd met him, he'd been little more than a teenager, and she, little more than a child. Rebecca saw how time had changed him. He still wore that same diamond-patterned bandanna, but the hair underneath it had grown a little longer and spikier. There was still that same determination set in the bright jade eyes that had permeated her brain, even as a child. That had been the first thing she had thought when she'd met him the first time. _Those eyes._

"How've you been, Otogi-san?" Rebecca said, falling back on formality. She hadn't spoken to him in years, after all. Even though Rebecca had grown older, and a little taller, he still stood a head taller than she. It was a little intimidating, if she was truly honest.

He flashed her a heart-melting smile, "Becky, come on. You've known me for so long. Call me Ryuuji."

_Ryuuji? _Rebecca wondered. She hadn't known his first name before. She didn't know why, but it suited him. _Wow, Becky? Oh, yeah, I remember. He was the only one who called me that. _

Rebecca smiled. She noticed the dice earring on his ear, flashing in the sunlight. It held her attention for a few seconds. She blushed once she realised Otogi was staring at her.

"Ryuuji it is then," Rebecca said, trying out the unfamiliar name, but to her surprise, it came to her tongue just as easily as if she had been calling him by that name ever since she'd first met him.

"Walk with me?" he asked. "I'm heading back to the Black Crown. You know, my gaming shop? It's close, only a couple streets away."

"Seven," Rebecca said, absently, before blushing a deep red. "I mean, sure," she said quickly. She didn't know what else to say, really. She had no other pressing engagements, she was just taking a walk. It occurred to her, as she walked alongside Otogi, that she could have made something up. _Sometimes, _Rebecca thought sardonically, _I can't believe people think that I'm a genius._

It wasn't that she didn't _want_ to walk with Otogi. His faint cologne, silky hair, emerald eyes and handsome smile were all beckoning her… and all of the former were precisely the reason she didn't want to walk with him, because she knew it would be so easy for her to make a fool of herself.

Which was precisely what she proceeded to do.

Before she could pull herself back, Rebecca fell forward, tripping over some unseen crack in the pavement.

For a second, she cursed Otogi _and_ his damn cologne. Lulling her into a false sense of security…

She soon realised she was pouting, and relaxed her face. Which was when she realised something else, something that she really ought to have realised before she was cursing Otogi's scent.

The incriminating scent was far closer than it had been before.

Otogi had caught her before she face-planted onto the concrete. Now, Rebecca wasn't focusing on that technicality. All she really knew was that Otogi's warm, firm arms were around her waist, his cologne was surrounding her, and she could feel the tips of his soft, coal-coloured hair brushing against her collarbone.

Before she could dwell on all this too much, Otogi gently set her on her feet.

"You know, Bec, for a genius, you're pretty clumsy," Otogi laughed.

Rebecca smiled, and laughed nervously. "Yeah... uh, thanks."

"Maybe you should hold onto my arm until we get there," Otogi chuckled, and winked. "Wouldn't want you to fall again."

He stretched out his arm so that there was a space for her to hook her arm around his. Rebecca just looked at it for a second, before looping her arm around his and resting her hand tentatively on his wrist, which was covered by a thin band made of soft, brown leather, tied together with seven tiny, intricate knots.

The proximity sent a shiver down her spine. His bare arm was warm, and Rebecca could feel the tautness of defined muscles against her skin. She gulped quietly as she found she could feel the pulse of his heart through his wrist.

"So, Ryuuji…" Rebecca said, desperately trying to think of a subject that would steer her mind away from these dangerous waters _(oh, but heavens, he smells so damn good)_, "You seen Yugi lately?"

Otogi shook his head. "Not lately. But then again, I haven't been in Domino for a while. I've been away in America on business. What about you?"

"No," Rebecca sighed wistfully. "I haven't seen darling Yugi in ages."

Rebecca promptly blushed bright scarlet. _Didn't we have this conversation before, Rebecca? You can call him 'darling' in your __head__, but that is all! Gah, you total idiot! And now you're talking to yourself, could you be any stupider at this particular moment? Stop that now. Right now._

But Otogi just rose an eyebrow, a wryly amused smirk on his face. "I see."

Rebecca continued to rebuke herself in her head, and embarrassment raced through her veins, flushing her exposed arms a light pink. "But… I suppose he's alright. He's Yugi, you know? He's _always_ alright," she stammered, trying to regain her footing.

Otogi let out a little chuckle, "I guess."

Rebecca realised that she could feel the deep bass of Otogi's laugh reverberating down his arm and the sensation only increased her blush. Talking about Yugi made her more aware that she did in fact miss him, a lot more than she would care to admit, even to herself.

Otogi looked down at the woman beside him. For she was no longer a child. Time had seen to that nicely. She had sprouted up a good couple of feet, and now stood only a head shorter than him. He gulped as his eyes wandered to below her face, and he surprised himself by feeling embarrassed. Usually he wasn't so shy about it... was that a _blush_ he felt rising to his cheeks? _Dude, pull yourself together. Yeah, she's filled out, it has been a while. Stop gawking._

He took care that when he next looked at Rebecca, it was her face his eyes were fixed on. Though, for some reason, that didn't seem to help. She smiled nervously at him, and he grinned back. It was then he noticed the necklace she was wearing. _Girl's got taste, _he thought, smirking. A little voice in his head shouted, _oh, the shop can wait._

"You wanna go for a coffee or something?"

Rebecca's eyes widened at Otogi's question. She was about to open her mouth to attempt a polite decline, when she stopped herself. Why should she say no again? Was it the thought of Yugi? Rebecca pursed her lips at that. _Oh, forget about Yugi. You haven't seen him in years, anyway. Plus, Otogi really is damn gorgeous._ So instead, she smiled.

"I'd like that."


End file.
